diabetes complications

I have been diabetic for the past 20 yrs and I am having so much trouble keeping my BS in check.I am on oral meds and insulin,I'm overweight and ashamed of my body.I am insulin resistant and have several other conditions going on as well.I'm very discouraged and I have to make some very serious changes.

49 replies

I understand. Have been there alot. I'm starting the year putting health #1. I find that making small steps to get started helps me get going at least-like cutting down on potatoe chips; starting to walk 10 min a day. Seems so little, but it does help me get to where I want eventually. In a week I am going to start writing down everything I eat. I do test alot so I know how high I have been. Good luck to you. I'm with you in spirit-route for meif you think of it.

hang in there.. its hard but if u love life.. u will do and adjust to what u have to do to stay the course.. I have my kids and grandkids to live for.. that gives me the push to keep it under control… find something that makes u want to get up and go for and that will help to give u the courage to fix ur situation…and yes this site I find extremely useful ..when u have people to talk to u realise u r not alone…

Hi dmf2010! I know how you feel I never really paid attention to my weight before , now I'm aware of everymove I make and I'm a little ashamed of myself because I knew better, I will be so glad when I can really smile again and know i'm healthy all the way.

As I have read most of the replies, I see a couple of common elements to most of them. First I see that everyone who is successful takes ownership of their problem. Second and equally important is that they don't try to do it alone. Whether it be God, or a close friend, or a family member we all need that one person we can turn to for the strength to carry on. I was feeling a little depressed about news I received today, but find that reading the respoonses to your post has lifted me a little so that I too may carry on.

Hi Cijo1 ! I hope you are feeling much better and able to be able to deal with whatever the news was. I got depressed this morning when I could not fit into my new pants that I brought for a special occassion and I cannot return to the store , because they are 3 months past the return date. I'm going to bed now at 4.35 am and maybe I will feel better in the morning. I hope you are safe and be good.

I'm sorry that the news you received today caused you to be depressed. You're right, we all need others to help us through the difficult times. I'm praying that tomorrow will be full of sunshine and happiness for you. You'll be in my thoughts and prayers. Hang in there, we all do care.

I wish I had more support when I first was diagnosed so I could be able to handle my problems a lot easier now. I also wish I had more support so I could have someone to talk with. I have been dealing with it mostly on my own.

Sounds like trouble…After a relatively healthy 46 years of Type 1, I have come to terms with what I have done to avoid the pain of complications. Just Check out my link to save a lot of re-typing…Good Luck in your quest…it's not as bad as it seems: http://typeonediabetic45.blogspot.com/

But note what Jowi says below this. It seems to me he doesn't quite have it right.

The 2 types of carbs are (1) simple and (2) complex not sugary and starchy. Simple carbs are sugars, like sucrose, (table sugar) high fructose corn syrup ect, and starches, like white potatoes, white rice, white bread, some fruits. These break down into glucose in your digestive tract quickly and raise your Blood Glucose levels ("BG") quickly and cause a sharp rise.

Complex carbs like whole grain breads, vegetables, and fruits like strawberries & blueberries, take a while to fully digest and won't bring up one's BG#s as quickly or as high.

His suggestion of using artificial sweeteners like saccharin, while perhaps well intentioned is fraught with problems too. There are many artificial sweeteners which have their own set of drawbacks.

Regarding the link jowi put up, it links to a advertisement from Joe Barton publishing co. It is a name I have seen before and so I googled the company. Here's one of the links returned warning about that company's practices: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1415...

It is very hard ! I have had type 2 for about 7 years. My problem is, I have no self control, if I like something or crave it I will just eat it, I am like addict when it comes to food sometimes. My bs is out of control also, I asked God to help me keep to my goals, and I promised Him I would ask for His help when I feel like just pigging out. Today is my first day with God on my side. I have done well today, but it is a constant battle with me.

I found using 1/2 tsp cinnamon in my food daily helps to lower my BS. I also add 1/4 cup coffee grounds that are unperked to my meat along with 1 cup perked coffee instead of water also helps lower my bs.

Hi, I can understand where you are coming in that department, I was once the same way, I had to do it day by day and it was very difficult at first, and do not worry it is hard for everyone and having God on your side is wonderful I have to give him the glory, honor and praise for doing the work in me that I could not do myself, I was well over 3oo pounds at one time, and I would cry myself to sleep at night because it was hard and so stressful but I began to pray and ask for his help and the more I asked for his help the more he did help me. I did exercise and join a gym, and walked to work everyday, or sometimes I would ride the bike, along with that I would watch what I ate, and yes, this is the hardest part because there are certain things that I could no longer eat, and I just decided that I had to be strong and I was determined not be be like my mother or the rest of my family, I guess you could say that I was scared to the point where I knew I had to do something about it myself, and so I just took it one day at a time, of course I would cry on my way home from work because I always passed the McDonalds restaurant, and other restaurants, but then I soon learned how to eat properly and then as the weight came off i was more determined to keep it off, no one said it was easy but I did it, and food is very addicting because this is the goal of their industry is to keep people addictive and then they will continue to come back, but if you take God's hand and ask him to guide you and let him direct your steps he will help you, and eventually you will see the difference. All of us are struggling with some kind of addictions (mine, is coffee), and we know how hard this is, but with God you can get through it. Sometimes watching our food intake, or carb counting gets boring, but we can be our best friends, and then we can also be our own enemy, and with time things will improve for you and so will your numbers as you learn what works for you and what does not, but soon you will be able to see what effects your sugars and then what brings it down, if you drink water before a meal it will reduce your cravings for certain things, just take it one day at a time, and Rome wasn't built in a day, it takes time for the change to take place and when it does you will see that it is worth all your hard work and sacrifices. I hope you get to feeling better and I will pray for you to hear God's voice and as he walks with you you will be able to lean on him for understanding and wisdom, he changed my life, and he can change yours as well! I look forward to talking with you more and getting to know you, so if want to talk you can always send me a message!

You sound a lot like me; I try so hard to watch my carbs, constant sliding scale. But for unexplained reasons some days it's just (my BS) out of whack! I have a lot of stress and depression and that's the only thing I can think of that may affect it. I can be 125 in the morning, eat a yogurt (15 carbs = 1 unit), english muffin 4 hours later (30 carbs = 2 units), and 3 hours later be over 400! I just don't get it.

I hope you get all straightened out with your BS and hope you reach your goals. Its not easy but sounds like you have taken the right steps to take care of yourself. I know I have to do the same for myself. I have been discouraged at times also and it makes us stress out more which in turn can cause things to be worse for us. take care

i have been a diabetic for 15 years and i have the same problem. i am on only oral meds because i am afraid of needles. i now have stage 3 kidney failure. please make the changes while you can. you can do it and you will feel better about yourself. i wish i would have taken a more serious approch to this. my prayers are with you

Hi Mimiof6, I'm a Grammy of 3 boys, been diognosed T2 over 20 yrs, on oral meds. Have had kidney failure in '05…now have good BG numbers. And try to keep them in tighter control. Battle with weight (it is winning) every day. All the rest of these post are from almost a yr. ago, but the advice given by Mays, Alan,Gabby & griz is right on and worth reading again , for ALL OF US. Sorry about your kidney problems..I'll send up a prayer for you today!

I have been a diabetic for 16 years and have gone through several different oral meds and insulins. Right now I am on Lantus and Humolog. No oral. My doctor took me off of metformin because it was doing some damage to my body. My blood sugars arae still not under control. I know it is mainly how much I eat but it is hard to eat right. I have several of the complications that go along with diabetes. It certainly isn't fun to have.Judith

I am sorry to hear that, I am praying for you right now and will ask God to help you and hold you in his arms to make you feel better, I know this is a terrible disease and I would not wish this on anyone, but just know that with God all things are possible and you can conquer anything through him. I do hope and pray things will get better for you! God Bless you.

It's really hard to tell which insulin is the best for you, my Dr. had to change mine 3 times… Last year I gained 40lbs. And it was more the insulin I was using then the food I was eating. My situation is weird my BS has to be from 180-200 in order for me to function, if it goes lower than that I see stars, colors, and feel faint. I usually carry sweets with me mainly peppermints. So tell your Dr. to re-evaluate you insulin.

Hi, Dmf2010. I see that you were born in 1952. Consequently, that means that you have been through menopause, I think? If that's not true, then you don't have to continue. I'm exactly like you — overweight, been diabetic for about 10 yrs. +/-, been through surgical menopause. My body still makes its own insulin, but even so the doctor wants me to start with insulin injection in addition to the oral meds I've been taking. However, being terrified at the very idea of injections, I began researching different things on the web and came up with the following.

I now take an OTC product called Estroven and it has done wonders for me. First of all, my glucose readings have greatly improved and are on the average 100 points lower than before and really now almost every day are within normal ranges. Plus, so far, I've lost about 10 pounds, and I'm not dieting at all. I don't mean that I'm overeating, but I'm just not dieting in the true sense of the word. I am following common sense suggestions about food, though. Get back to me with your thoughts, will you? Thanks.

Hi Emma, my name is Susan, it is nice to meet you, first of all congratulations on loosing weight is always the hardest thing to do and yet you did it! good for you, this in itself is a great accomplishment, keep up the good work!

I am also on Oral med's and for some time i also was struggling to get my Blood Sugar in check.. seemed like no matter what i did nothing would work for me..I would think i did good only to take a reading and it came out high!! I was discouraged also!!

Finally one day i sat down and re-evaluated my whole situation and decided i was going to do whatever i needed to to get things back in check..What worked for me?? first of all i started by giving up meat and going to a Vegetarian diet.. That, for me was the hardest change i made.. but after doing research and finding a ton of recipes from this site and others I found that there are some very satisfying dishes to be made out there!!..The second thing i did was to start exercising again..slowly at first and working up to a level i am more then happy with now..I had always been active but thru Depression i had forgot how much i actually liked to exercise! After only one month of those small changes.. SMALL?? I found that not only did i lose weight but actually had energy again! My Blood Sugar level dropped from the 190's to around 90 to 100 and i now feel FANTASTIC!!!!! Have energy i have not had in a long time.. And for the first time in a very long time i feel good and good about myself!

One of my biggest challenges was Portion Control.. I knew how to eat right but continued to eat way more then i should have.. and just that factor alone will make it hard to lose the weight..Once i had that under control then everything else fell right into place!! One of the best things that you can do for yourself is to start feeling good about yourself again!! You have the power to make a change but as long as you continue to feel bad about yourself change will come hard..Everyone is a special person and when they learn to accept that fact then things finally start coming into place..

I wish you all the best in your quest to turn things around!! With a positive mind set i am sure that you can do anything you decide to do!! Best wishes for success!!

Good job and well done, I did the same thing back 13 years ago, and still exercising today, and you are soo right when you mention portion control yes this was a biggie for me as well, and I too struggled with these issues until I learned how to fight this and I finally did overcome many different obstacles, and now I am 136lbs, compared to 375lbs, yes, a big difference, I do not eat too much meat either only chicken and usually veggies and fruits but only apples, grapefruits, bananas, and then the rest is veggies, and then I snack throughout the day on what I like to call free food, the ones you do not have to count in your meal plan for example, diet jello( no sugar that is), salad, and then I will eat a high fiber dinner with a meat vegetable and starch, but not too many, this works great for me, yes, portion control is the big factor in this puzzle, along with exercise, God did the work I could not do, however he did teach me how to take control over my own health, once I learned how to control it myself I was on my way, but he deserves all the glory, honor and praise for what he did in my life, it is just fantastic what God can do in people isn't it! But I will agree with you that diet and exercise played a huge part in controlling my sugars. Great job with getting on track! It does take work and effort but it can be done.

Well you have been diabetic longer(diagnosed 1998), but I so can relate to your struggles with other conditions as well, you can check my profile I think they are listed there. When I relocated in 2002 my sugars went up and my new primary doctor put me on insulin, I hated that. I was determined somehow someway that was going to stop. It's a shame that it stopped in the way it did, either 2006 or 2007 I began having vomiting problems regardless of what I ate or drank and I never knew when an attack would take place eventually I was vomiting 2-3 times a week then while immune system was down developed the flu and couldn't keep anything down. I had to be hospitalized for over a week while every test my doctor could think of was negative but a few showed diverticulosis and an H Pylori infection that was treated and then after a test for my swallowing problem where they pushed in against my stomach I developed another bout of the H Pylori infection. I lost a dramatic amount of weight in a very short time. From 310 lbs down to 22o in 6 months then I'd gain and lose in repetitive cycles until he thought maybe the metformin I was taking for the diabetes was the culprit. So I quit then started taking Glucotrol XL 10 mg. For a while this would keep my sugars under control until November 2009 when it went up so Doc prescribed Januvia but my insurance wouldn't cover as it was not on their list of approved medicine so increased the Glucotrol XL to twice a day. Side effect I am hungry all the time. But in June of 2009 my vomiting problem began again if I took all of my medications both over the counter that doc wanted and the supplements he wanted. Now I'm vomiting again. So I'm not taking all medications I have a list that I can take now and tomorrow I start working on one medication at a time for a week duration before adding another if no issues develop with the one I take until I have gotten the suspect figured out. So I can definitely relate.

Welcome to the community. I hope that you will find the kind of support you crave to help get you back on track. I have not had diabetes as long as you have, but there are days when I get tired of it too. It is relentless and never takes a break.

One thing that I do that helps me is going back to square one. Starting over with my experimentation and discovering that maybe my body is changing what it reacts to.

Like I kind of cleared my slate with my supplements and started fresh, adding one at a time to see what they are doing for me now.

I got back into logging my foods and exercise to show what I am REALLY doing instead of what I THINK I am doing.

Getting involved in a class or a group, even like here is a great help. I find it keeps me "honest" and keeps me focused.

15 years type 2, 2 pills and lantis and overweight but the same weight for 2 years.My doctor explained to me that the longer we are diabetic and not keeping our numbers under control the more we become insulin resistant. Which of course means we up meds or add meds. He said that to me Sept 09 when my A1C came back 9, after my last surgery 2 years ago they were between 6.0 and 7.5. I looked at him and said I am under the most extreme amount of stress in my life I know this reading can change. He gave me a month Oct 09 my A1C 8, he said come back in 3 months A1C 7.6. He said come back in 6 months A1C 7.5. What changed is my ex of 12 years left me and I had to move in with my non-stable menatly mother for 6 months of 09. Got my own apartment in Oct. 09 and haven't talked to the ex since he moved out on me.I know 7.5 is not the best but I also know that STRESS can cause a lot of problems with with your levels. I have only adjusted my eating a small amount because I was already eating right. Now all I have to do if figure out how to exersise with two numb, extremely painfull and sometimes swollen feet and legs.Yes, you may need to change meds or up them but it is better then losing your site or a foot our your life as you know it.

As far as the excercise goes…try using a trampoline…those small ones…Bouncing is the single best way to help move fluid OFF of you. And above all, don't let fluid retention be the reason you don't drink water…keep yourself hydrated and bounce, bounce, bounce…Be sure to start with small amounts of time and work your way up to 15 to 30 minutes a day. It's working for me.

There is one good thing about shame, it's called change.You have the ability to transform yourself from a caterpillar to a butterfly if that's what you choose to do, it's all up to you.But before we start on that, let's deal with the most important issue at hand, diabetes !

Before anything else can be done YOU must first get your blood glucose level under control somewhat, all of this starts with diabetic education pertaining to diabetes , what it is and what it can and cannot do, it cannot go away but you can control it, and you will because you must.

As you begin to learn and to do, your confidence and self esteem will improve, you will began to see a change in yourself for the betterment of you.

Here at Diabetic Connect, when you reach out your hand for help, many other hands will reach out to help you also, help and self help both go a long way towards positive results !

I have been gone from here for awhile…stress time off. My numbers are not what I would like them to be but all under 126. I am not overweight and metformin seems to be working fairly well for me but I have started taking yoga and tai chi classes a couple times per week. I am beginning to learn what I can and cannot do diet wise and otherwise. It's a pain I know but one must have pain to gain, a favorite cliche of mine. I know you can do it…I am 82 and dealing with a new illness is difficult at best…but I will prevail and so can you.